EFFECTS OF LABORATORY ADEQUACY ON ACADEMIC PERFORMANCES OF SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL BIOLOGY STUDENTS

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Background to the study

Science has become very important ingredient worldwide for suitable and socio-economic development as well as for technological advancement of nations. Knowledge of science education is no doubt required in all countries all over the world due to the numerous challenges that are facing nations of the world. In this new age of science and technology when scientific knowledge has grown exponentially and technological innovations have progressed at a rapid rate and the influence of science is clearly witnesses in all aspects of our live. It is understandable that science and technology educations plays a vital role in the building the future of societies because of its importance. Science is the intellectual and practical activity encompassing the systematic study of the structure and behaviour of the physical and natural world through observation and experiment.Science education is imperative for useful living in any society. It is at the centre for producing resources necessary for socio-economic scientific and technology development needed for advancement of any nation. Biology as a case study is described as a science of life and plays a very vital role in the life of every human being. It is very vast with many division including zoology, botany, ecology, genetics, evolution and the more advanced cell biology, molecular biology among others. Biology which is the study of living organisms which study the structure, function, growth, origin evolution and distribution of living organisms. Biology is the plant and animal life of a specific area.Biology is very important in student’s life because it allows people to understand the diversity of life forms and their conversation and exploitation through various biological disciplines. Laboratory activities also encourage students to construct knowledge by interaction with laboratory materials as they solve problems. Laboratory facilities adequacies give student some basic insight into scientific concepts and leave them with feeling of the reality of science which in turn improves their academic performance in examinations.

Statement of the problem

It is a known fact that the general performance of students in the Senior School Certificate Examination in science subjects including Biology has not been impressive in the past few decades when compare to the performance in the same in the 80’s and early 90’s despite efforts by the government at different levels to improve performance of the students. A number of factors could be attributed to this poor performance among students and laboratory facilities inadequacy in our secondary schools which cannot cater for practical lessons top the list in the of the identified problems. This constitutes an educational obstruction in the effective teaching and learning of Biology concepts. It is becoming more worrisome and getting to deteriorating state in the secondary school education in Nigeria. And having recognized secondary school education as bridge between primary and tertiary education, there is need for urgent attention to be given to this ugly incidence.